On Tuesday's Performance Today we're featuring music for Christmas Eve from concert halls and churches around the world. From music that is fervent and passionate to music that is quietly reverent, we'll hear a wide range of heartfelt music for the Christmas season.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Noels pour les instruments: Or nous dites, Marie; A la venue de Noel; Ou s'en voint ces gais bergers?
Les Violons du Roy, Bernard Labadie, conductor
Dorian 90180
Gian Carlo Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors: Introduction, March, and Shepherd's Dance
Buffalo Philharmonic; JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NY
John Tavener: A Christmas Round and Today the Virgin
Chanticleer; Jace Wittig, interim music director
Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, New York, NY
Mykola Leontovych: Carol of the Bells (Ukrainian Bell Carol)
West Edge String Quartet
Christmas Around The World
Centaur 3087
Traditional Gaelic melody: A Holly and Ivy Calypso
West Edge String Quartet
Christmas Around The World
Centaur 3087
John Rutter: Nativity Carol
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge; The Dmitri Ensemble; Graham Ross, director
All Hallows' Church, Gospel Oak, London, England
Lux de Caelo
Harmonia Mundi
Hershey Kay: Pat-a-Pan
St. Olaf College Orchestra; Steven Amundson, conductor
St. Olaf Christmas Festival, Skoglund Center Auditorium, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
Traditional Carols from Austria, France, & Peru: Still, Still, Still (Austria); Il est ne, le divin Enfant (France); Venir, pastorcitos (Peru)
Salt Lake Children's Choir; Lysa Rytting, harp; Ralph Woodward, conductor
Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, UT
Traditional: O Come, O Come Emmanuel and Away in a Manger
Ensemble Galilei: Sue Richards, Celtic harp; Ryan McKasson, fiddle
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Francis Poulenc: Quatre Motets pour le Temps de Noel/Poulenc: O Magnum Mysterium; Quem Vdistis Pastores dicite; Videntes stellam; Hodie Christus Natus est
Netherlands Radio Chorus; Gijs Leenaars, conductor
Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Hour 2
Leroy Anderson: Suite of Carols: Shepherds in Bethlehem (Spain); Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella (France); Wassail Song (England)
London POPS Orchestra; Frederick Fennell, conductor
Frederick Fennell conducts Leroy Anderson and Eric Coates
Mercury 434376
Daniel Kallman: Messiah, Prince of Peace
St. Olaf Orchestra; Steven Amundson, conductor
St. Olaf Christmas Festival, Skoglund Auditorium, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
William Billings: Bethlehem
Anonymous 4
St. Bernard's Church, St. Paul, MN
Franz Biebl (arr. Feza Zweifel): Ave Maria
Burning River Brass
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Traditional English: Improvisation on "Greensleeves"
Bolette Roed, recorder
Music in Paradise Festival, Seminar Church, Paradyz, Poland
Traditional Welsh: Wassail, wassail throughout all this town!
Danielle Svonavec, soprano; The Baltimore Consort
Wesley United Methodist Church, Bethlehem, PA
Adolphe Adam (arr. Joseph Jennings): O Holy Night
Chanticleer; Dale Warland, guest music director
St. Vincent de Paul Church, Petaluma, CA
Jonathan Dove: Seek Him that Maketh the Seven Stars
Choir of the St. Andrew and St. Paul Church; Jonathan Oldengarm, organ; Choir of the St. Andrew and St. Paul Church; Jordan de Souza, conductor
Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, Montreal, Canada
Aaron Jay Kernis: Musica Celestis (excerpt)
St. Olaf Orchestra; Steven Amundson, conductor
Skoglund Center Auditorium, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
Franz Gruber (arr. Mark Small): Silent Night
Eva Beneke, guitar; Scott Tennant, guitar
In Dulci Jubilo
GSI 700261980102
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About Performance Today®
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American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.
Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.
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